Credit Monitoring 

Forget all three credit bureaus and any promotions they might be offering. It’s usually a snow job with sneaky hidden high montly costs. Forget those TV ads you see as they are from one of the three agencies mentioned above.

There is only one place to acquire a free annual credit report. That would be Annual Credit Report.com. You allow one free credit report from all three of the major credit reporting agencies that being Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

It’s recommended that you request your annual free report every fourth month alternating each of the three credit agencies.

The best credit protection is not a credit monitoring service from the three agencies which will cost you a monthly or annual fee, but instead requesting a credit freeze from each of the three agencies. The cost is usually $10 per agency to place the freeze and another $10 to temporary unthaw it when applying for credit. If you been declined credit or have ID theft issues then the freeze is free. The “Freeze” process is done through each of the three reporting agencies mentioned above and can be done online or in writing depending on the agency.

For further information on credit freeze a good website to visit is Clark Howard’s consumer website. Clark provides links to each on the three agencies and instructions on how to fill out the request forms.

As a side note my financial planning website (DFI Wealth Management) has added a web page devoted to establishing a home business if you are interested and specifically geared towards internet marketing also know as affiliate marketing.

Dan